As expected, the Patriots dumped linebacker Adalius Thomas on Monday. As expected, the Jets are standing at the front of the line for the player’s services.
Manish Mehta of the Newark Star-Ledger reports that the Pats’ AFC East rivals are interested in Thomas, who signed with the Patriots as a free agent in 2007. Before that, he played for the Ravens, where Jets coach Rex Ryan had worked for a decade.
Per Mehta, the Jets’ specific level of interest isn’t known. Jets linebacker Bart Scott said in March that Thomas would like to play for the Jets if/when cut by the Patriots. Thomas refuted that, possibly due to concerns that the Pats would squat on his rights for as much of the offseason as possible in order to keep him from establishing a roster position in New York.